Bishop TD Jakes’ Massive Heart Attack Had No Symptoms

Amid his sermon last November, Bishop TD Jakes, leader of Dallas’s megachurch, The Potter’s House, was rushed to the hospital with what the church called in its official statement a “health incident.” Many speculated that it was a stroke. However, Bishop Jakes sat down with Today Show host Craig Melvin this week to reveal that he suffered a massive heart attack.

Bishop Jakes says he didn’t realize what had happened to him until he arrived at the hospital in an ambulance.

“I was fussing about this happening while I was onstage. Then a doctor leaned over in my ear and said, ‘You’ve had a massive heart attack,’” he recalled.

One of the reasons he didn’t know he was having a cardiac event was that Bishop Jakes wasn’t experiencing the symptoms he’s heard about, numbness or sharp pain. “I just sort of… drifted off to sleep. I didn’t know what it was…but I almost died. [The doctor] said five minutes later, I would have been dead on arrival,” Bishop Jakes explained.

Jakes continued. “The right side of my heart had stopped giving blood at all. As long as I was up preaching, I felt fine, but when I sat down, the adrenaline dropped, and it exposed the fact that I was preaching with half of my heart closed through a clot.” That required surgery.

Melvin and Bishop Jakes talked about being so close to death and that he was at peace the whole time. “And then I had my whole church, and when I say my whole church, I mean global, not just the congregation. Even people who didn’t go to my church, people everywhere were sending prayers. I am so thankful and want to use this opportunity to thank them,” he said.

“And while they were praying, the surgeons were operating while I was awake. They never put me to sleep; technology is amazing,” Bishop Jakes continued.

You would think that after recovering from a massive heart attack, Bishop Jakes would slow down. No, he is doing more. Look for a new podcast coming soon.